User guide

Bug counts have been very low and development cycles very fast due to re-use of existing open
hardware modules. The IP04 was booting uClinux and making phone calls using Asterisk 1 week after
the solder had cooled on the first prototype. This is practically unheard of in hardware development.
The IP04 reached production 3 months later and the design has proven to be reliable and stable.
Similar tools and techniques to open software are used for open hardware development. For example
the team uses SVN to store and share schematic and PCB files, as well as the software components of
the IP04. The team is spread throughout the world, so chat, Skype, and email were used to coordinate
hardware development and debugging. Blog posts have been used to document and share IP04
development instead of the traditional engineering log book.
Open hardware is a 21
st
Century technique to help solve a timeless problem – connecting the world.
13.5 Competitor Analysis
The IP04 is a leading edge embedded IP-PBX, equivalent to anything developed by traditional (closed
development) commercial companies. The open hardware pedigree means that the hardware has
been reviewed by “many eyes”. This means (just like open software) that the IP04 is likely to be more
stable and have higher quality compare to “closed” products.
It should be noted that the IP04 is one of the first embedded Asterisk “Appliance” type devices to be
offered for commercial sale – community based development (open hardware and software) gave the
development team a time-to-market edge.
Note also that with the right “business model” (e.g. NGO support for distribution, volume manufacture),
the IP04 can be deployed for as low as $100 per unit, around 5% of the price of competing devices
(e.g. the Asterisk Appliance) with equivalent functionality!
Please see Appendix A, Section 12.8 for a comparison chart of Asterisk-based appliances.
13.6 VOIP and GSM – Partners not Competitors
In this section we address the question of “Why VOIP?” given the popularity of GSM in developing
countries.
Just like 1
st
world telephone networks, VOIP and GSM can complement each other. In the 1
st
world we
tend to use mobile phones for short phone calls in situations where portability is important. For longer
duration phone calls, or for areas without mobile coverage we use traditional land line or VOIP. These
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